WERE it not for the plaque identifying it, the pebble-dash semi would look like any other house in its street.

WERE it not for the plaque identifying it, the pebble-dash semi would look like any other house in its street.

Yet this was where one of the most well-loved and controversial figures in popular music history spent his formative years.

Mendips, the childhood home of John Lennon, yesterday opened its doors for the first time since it was restored to 1950s style by the National Trust.

At the launch, the former Beatle's widow Yoko Ono, who bought the Woolton property last year, spoke of her pleasure at being able to show it to his fans.

"John used to always tell me about Mendips so that when I first came in here I felt as thought I already knew it. It was not strange to me at all.

"It had a special place in his heart. "I think he is looking down at us and having a good laugh," she said.

With the traffic stopped ready for Ms Ono's arrival, Menlove Avenue was returned to the peaceful state the young Lennon would have found it in.

Here a teenage Lennon and Paul McCartney would practise their guitars, away from the sensitive ears of his Aunt Mimi who disliked their skiffle music.

The central focus of the house was the morning room where Lennon ate his favourite meal of egg and chips at a drop-leaf table while Mimi repaired clothes on her Singer sewing machine.

On one wall was an antique wooden clock, an heirloom handed down by his grandfather, inscribed "George Toogood, Woolton Tavern".

Today, the original, which now sits in Ms Ono's New York apartment, has been replaced by an exact replica.

"This clock was very important to John. He kept it in our kitchen with a picture of me on the top and a photograph of us kissing underneath.

"He was the one who would wind it and he wouldn't let anyone else because it was old and he wanted to protect it," said Ms Ono.

In the lounge are the only original artefacts to remain in the house. Aunt Mimi's bureau, where she would have sat answering fan mail sent to Mendips, and her Chinese Chippendale-style display cabinet, where she kept her best china. Lennon would sit in this room, writing poetry and song lyrics.

The dining room is now filled with black and white photographs of the Beatles by Astrid Kirchherr and the famous picture of Lennon's first band The Quarrymen at St Peters Church Fete in 1957, the day he met McCartney.

Lennon's favourite room was his tiny bedroom. Here, he wrote several Beatles songs including the early hit Please, Please Me. Pictures of Elvis and Brigitte Bardot are stuck to the walls above the maroon-quilted bedspread.

"John loved his bedroom. He used to tell me how he became very good at quietly creeping down the stairs so Mimi didn't know what he was up to," said Ms Ono.

The house has been restored to a general 1950s period, when Lennon was a pupil at Quarry Bank School.

Mike Cadwallader, the musician's cousin, helped advise the National Trust.

"It was very much the heart of family life here. We all used to spend a lot of time here visiting Mimi and playing in the garden," he said.

* MENDIPS, Menlove Avenue, Woolton, will open to the public tomorrow. Call 0151-708 8574 to book a visit.

MENDIPS INSPIRED EX-BEATLE TO WRITE POP FAVOURITES>

FRONT PORCH John Lennon practised his guitar here with Paul McCartney and other members of his first band, The Quarrymen.

THE KITCHEN Where Aunt Mimi hung one of Lennon's early poems, a framed copy of A House Where There is Love.

THE MORNING ROOM The main centre of family life, where John ate his meals, listened to the radio and watched television.

This is where he is heard the first songs that inspired him to become a musician.

THE DINING ROOM Became Lennon's art studio and where he painted many of his early pictures.

When he and his first wife Cynthia returned to live in Mendips, this was turned into their bedroom.

THE LOUNGE Where Lennon wrote poetry and song lyrics as a teenager and Aunt Mimi used to sit and reply to fan mail sent to him at Mendips.

LENNON'S BEDROOM Where Lennon wrote The Beatles's early hit Please Please Me sitting on his bed with his guitar.